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Toby Bailey saved face for Northamptonshire with a career-best 85 not out against promotion-chasing Worcestershire at New Road.The Second Division champions were deep in trouble at 96 for seven until their 24-year-old reserve wicketkeeper delayed the home county’s march towards their first target of maximum bowling points.Bailey shared in half century partnerships with acting captain Tony Penberthy (48) and Paul Taylor (14) before tea was taken early with the visitors in much better shape at 231 for nine.Needing victory to have a chance of joining Northants in the top-flight next year, Worcestershire gambled that Glenn McGrath would profit from bowling first on a cloudy first day.The Australian fast bowler claimed his 65th Championship wicket of the season with only his second ball and eventually took his total to 68 with figures of four for 69 in 24 overs.Medium-pacers Stuart Lampitt and David Leatherdale added to the morning demolition with four lbw victims, all given by umpire John Steele, but Bailey transformed the situation with 14 fours from 117 balls.

Charged with the task of opening the bowling for Bangladesh, and facing up to AB de Villiers in the first Twenty20 international against South Africa on Sunday, Arafat Sunny said he was focused more on bowling to his plans instead of the batsman at the other end. Sunny dismissed de Villiers off the sixth ball of the first over of the match the hosts lost by 52 runs.Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza brought Sunny into the attack at the start to counter de Villiers’ decision to move up the order, only the second time the South Africa batsman has opened in T20 internationals. Off the last ball of the over, de Villiers, looking to make room, chipped a length delivery off the back foot to cover, where Mashrafe took a simple catch. Sunny said the plan was to refrain from bowling full or short at de Villiers and to keep the batsman in check.”It is important not to concentrate too much on the batsman,” Sunny said on the eve of the second game between the two sides, “otherwise a bowler goes under pressure.””I tried to bowl according to my plan and not focus too much on the batsman. I think it helped me. I was told that I cannot bowl too full or even slightly short at him (de Villiers). I was only focusing on a specific length to keep him in check. Luckily he aired one and I got his wicket. I think the pitch was helpful to the spinners, so I could find a bit of turn and try to control the scoring rate.”Sunny also took the wicket of JP Duminy, who fell to an excellent catch by Nasir Hossian at deep midwicket for 18. He kept things tight for most of his three overs in the game, ending with returns of 2 for 19.In his four T20s since January 2014, Sunny has opened the bowling twice and has an economy rate of 6.70 and an average of 11.16, and a strike rate of 10 in the format. His ODI numbers are also promising, with 22 wickets in 13 matches at a strike-rate of 30.7.Bangladesh haven’t played domestic T20s since December 2013 and as one of the more important bowlers in the format – along with Enamul Haque Jnr, Shakib Al Hasan and Abdur Razzak – it is important for Sunny to gain international exposure. The bowler, however, knows he could, on occasion, lose his place in the XI, depending on the team combination and conditions. He played one ODI for the side during the World Cup and despite finishing the highest wicket-taker for Bangladesh in the ODI series against Pakistan, he played only one game against India.”Sometimes the team combination can be different,” he said. “If the opposition has a number of left-handed batsmen in their line-up, it can be different. Pitches vary too. I am always prepared to play, but it is all up to the team management.”Meanwhile, Soumya Sarkar, who opened the innings in the game against South Africa, expressed frustration at his failure to convert starts. He scored 7 in the T20, but in the ODIs against India his scores of 40, 34 and 54 could have been more substantial knocks.”We discussed how we couldn’t play according to our plan,” he said. “The two early wickets kept us on the back foot, otherwise we had planned around 40-45 runs in the first six overs. It would have helped the next batsman. I think everyone, including myself, understand that I am getting out after getting set. I feel disappointed that it is hurting the team. We are discussing ways to get out of this situation.”

Kane Williamson looked a leader long before last week, when he took New Zealand to a series win in Zimbabwe, long before last year, when he took them to victory over Pakistan in the UAE, and even before July 2012, when he headed up their humbling in the West Indies. It was earlier that year, on a windy and wet Wellington afternoon, when he saw off an increasingly vicious Morne Morkel, survived being struck everywhere it hurts – his arm, his shoulder, his box – and forced a drawn Test against South Africa that Williamson first made his claim as a future captain.

‘Captaincy helps my batting’ – Faf du Plessis

While Kane Williamson compartmentalises captaincy and batting, his opposite number Faf du Plessis combines them to form a complete package. Du Plessis took over as South Africa’s T20 captain in February 2013 and believes the extra responsibility has enhanced him as a cricketer.
“I really love captaining. It makes the game feel a little bit easier for me because I am thinking of all the aspects and I feel it also helps my batting because I am a cricketer that relies on being smart when I bat, that carries into my captaincy,” du Plessis said.
“I’ve played under really good leadership and I think I have matured a bit more than I was two years ago. Even though I have always enjoyed captaincy, the more you do it the more you mature and you understand what makes people tick. In that sense I’ve grown the most.”

That day Williamson impressed not by virtue of his runs – and he made 102 of them – but by his resoluteness. He could not be broken because if he was, his team would break with him and that, more than the individual feat, was the most important part of being an international cricketer to him. He said so that day; he said so again today.”That’s a lot of what we talk about: playing for the right reasons, playing to move the team forward and being able to somewhat remove too many selfish endeavours – which can be a challenge in the game. There’s so many stats around that they can come into individuals’ mindsets but the biggest thing for us is that when we play for the team the obligation is purely to help the team and move the team forward.”New Zealand’s kumbaya culture of cricket has multiplied manyfold since that day. Now it’s not just Williamson that believes in taking one for the team, but all of them. Close your eyes and attend a New Zealand press conference and you will think they keep bringing the same man to the microphone, because they all say the same thing, but unlike the rehearsed corporate speak of professional sport today, New Zealand actually sound sincere.It helps that when they’re on the field, they walk that talk too. Just think of the World Cup. New Zealand represented true team culture. They were having what Brendon McCullum called “the time of our lives,” and we couldn’t help having it with them.”It was a lot of fun. We had a great time. It was just a fantastic time to be playing cricket; to have it in our own country, it really changed the way the country looked at the sport,” Williamson said. “In New Zealand, rugby is No.1 but during that World Cup we might have taken that spot for a brief moment in time, which it made it all that more special.”No regrets over not going that one step further? None, it seems. “It would have been nice to go all the way but still, we played the cricket we wanted to play. Someone had to lose in that final and it was us,” Williamson said. “Now the World Cup’s over, that’s cool, and we are still looking to improve.” Because next year there is another major trophy to play for and New Zealand want to win as much as anyone else.A serious challenge on their part will likely require a Williamson in top form, even though he will not admit it himself. “It is about playing for the team in any situation. I am a believer that sometimes results or figures that you try and reach can be a distraction to achieving it. My focus is contributing playing a role that I’m given and if you are able to pass milestones along the way, thats great.,” he said.Captaincy is one of those milestones. Williamson is not likely to lead because McCullum will be back but Williamson’s seniority and the experience he gains as captain on this trip will come in handy. He has admitted this trip is challenging him in different ways, with demands of both bat and brain but he has come up with a way to handle them.”I think captaincy is separate to batting. In the field, it’s applying yourself more in terms of thinking, whether it’s bowling changes, fielding positions, the whole lot. And it’s an enjoyable challenge, particularly in T20 cricket where there’s so much happening and things happen quickly so you need to stay on your toes,” Williamson said. “It’s enjoyable and a challenge as well with a new-look side.”The newness of the New Zealand side should, in theory, increase the pressure on Williamson to perform with the bat more often but he insists it hasn’t. The responsibility is shared by old and new players, who Williamson said will always put the team first. “It’s more about looking to contribute to a team performance, a team win, and that’s where we want people playing their games. Whether that means one or two guys consistently perform and hold a position that great but ultimately we want a bunch of guys that are going to be giving to the team and moving the team forward.”

ScorecardKumar Sangakkara’s hundred helped propel Surrey to a winning total•PA Photos

Classy hundreds from Steven Davies and Kumar Sangakkara propelled Surrey to a 77-run victory over Derbyshire in a high-scoring Royal London Cup match at Guildford.A crowd of 3000 saw some rich entertainment as Davies and Sangakkara added 204 in 31 overs for Surrey’s second wicket to set the hosts on their way to 326 for 6. Wes Durston led the chase with a thrilling 129 from 98 balls, which contained five sixes and 16 fours, but no other Derbyshire batsman could give him much support and they were despatched for 249.Surrey were given a fine start by Jason Roy, who twice drove Mark Footitt wide of mid-on for fours in the paceman’s opening over on his way to a bright 24. Footitt then made one bounce at Roy to have him taken at the wicket in his fourth over but, from 40 for 1, the Surrey innings was then dominated by Davies and Sangakkara.The two left-handers built their partnership expertly, with Davies twice pulling Alex Hughes’ medium pace for six and Sangakkara beating his partner to three figures with a thrilling assault on Footitt when the paceman returned for his second spell.From successive balls, Sangakkara square drove Footitt for four before flicking him over the midwicket ropes for two sixes. And spectators were on their feet again in the next over, when Davies pushed a ball from offspinner Durston to deep cover to complete his own hundred from 96 balls, two less than it had taken the Sri Lankan.Sangakkara scored 109 from 104 balls, with two sixes and nine fours, before he was stumped off the bowling of Durston – and Surrey lost another four wickets while adding a further 82 runs.Rory Burns fell for 11, mishitting a full toss from Hughes to extra cover, and Davies was held on the deep midwicket boundary off the same bowler after an enterprising 115 from 117 balls, taking his competition tally to 351 runs at an average of 87.75.Footitt had Tom Curran caught at deep cover for 29 in the closing stages and Gary Wilson lofted Ben Cotton to long off to depart for 2 in the final over – but Zafar Ansari scored a useful unbeaten 25 as Surrey posted their highest List A total against Derbyshire. It was a chastening 10 overs with the ball for Footitt, the left-arm fast bowler who has been added to England’s fourth Ashes Test squad, and his final figures were 2 for 86, with his second spell of three overs costing 38 runs as Davies and Sangakkara cut loose.Derbyshire’s openers then enjoyed a stand of 115, although Billy Godleman contributed just 27 to that as Durston quickly stole the limelight. Chesney Hughes, Wayne Madsen and Shiv Thakor also fell cheaply but Durston continued to pile on the runs, passing the hundred mark in 74 balls.He had just swung his fifth six, over wide long-on off Tom Curran, when two balls later he tried to repeat the stroke and skied to Curran’s younger brother, Sam – who took a well-judged catch at midwicket.Durston’s exit left Derbyshire on 203 for 5 and their lower order quickly fell away. Scott Elstone made 39 in a late cameo but no one else troubled the scorers as Surrey allrounder James Burke finished with a one-day career-best of 5 for 28.

Brad Haddin will always be welcome in the Australian team dressing room, of which he was such a major part for much of the past 15 years. The new captain Steven Smith and the coach Darren Lehmann both offered warm tributes to Haddin from Manchester as he announced his international retirement on the other side of the world in Sydney.For Smith, Haddin is something like his cricketing father. The pair have been close for almost the entirety of the younger man’s career with New South Wales and latterly Australia, also linking up influentially as the leadership duo for the Sydney Sixers. Last summer Haddin handed over his vice-captaincy post to Smith, allowing the 26-year-old to step in as Test captain at home against India. There will be plenty of Haddin about the way Smith leads Australia.”He’s been a terrific player over a long period of time for Australia, certainly one of the best team men I’ve ever been around – he always put the team first in every aspect,” Smith said. “He’s been a great mentor for me. I’ve learned so much off him, throughout [playing for] NSW. When I started there he was captain. I learned a lot off him there.””In the Australian setup as well he always took me under his wing and helped me develop as a player and as a person. I’m very thankful for that. He was an extremely experienced player, and a great vice-captain to Michael throughout his whole career. He was just a great team man to have around, and who a lot of the young guys learned a lot off.”Smith also admired Haddin’s natural tendency to take the game on, even if it meant the occasional pratfall. The rewards for such courage could be rich, never more so than during the 2013-14 Ashes summer when his brazen batting drove England to distraction.”The home Ashes, where we won five-nil, he was a massive part of that. I think he scored 50 or more in the first innings in all five of those Test matches,” Smith recalled. “He was a big part of our success throughout that summer. That’s probably my fondest memory of him.””Magnificent player, really took the game on. Batting at No.7, I think he really came out and played positively. I think there were a lot of times where he got us back into the game, just from sheer will and taking the game on. He was magnificent at that, and I think a lot of keepers around the world can learn from the way he played.”Lehmann and Haddin crossed paths well over a decade ago as opponents in domestic competition, and had their share of confrontations as aggressive captains of South Australia and New South Wales. Years later they worked closely as Lehmann took over as national team coach, and he admitted Haddin’s role extended as far as mentoring the mentor.”It’s a sad day for Australian cricket, because he was a fantastic player, a fantastic mentor for a lot of young players. A great mentor for me as coach,” Lehmann said. “I played against him as a youngster, [when I was] with South Australia, and saw him rise through the ranks and play some amazing knocks for Australia.”Some of the catches and keeping he did over that period of time, in 66 Test matches, is an amazing achievement for him – but also [because of] what he went through personally. It’s a credit to him and [wife] Karina and the kids. He’s a fantastic human being and he’ll be welcome in our change rooms all the time, because he’s an absolute superstar.”The role of vice-captain to Michael Clarke was never an easy one, as Clarke himself knew from a difficult period alongside Ricky Ponting, while Shane Watson’s alliance with Clarke was always tenuous. Haddin engendered such respect that he was able to work strongly alongside Clarke while also fashioning workable relationships with all players, and Lehmann credited his ability to use the position for the betterment of the team.”The way he went about it as vice-captain of Australia was exceptional,” Lehmann said. “He was instrumental in Ashes, World Cup, series wins in South Africa. We had a lot of success with Brad in the team. He was fantastic around the group and he complemented Michael really well. He was a fantastic vice-captain for Australia, one of the best we’ve ever had.”He was quite vocal behind the scenes. He was one of those guys that really wanted to help and push the youngsters … making sure they’re learning the craft. He pushed the Australian cricket team to the limits, and I think that’s a great thing for a vice-captain, a keeper, [to be] someone so vocal.””You’ve seen someone like Steven Smith, who obviously grew up watching Brad and then playing with Brad, and [learning from] the way he went about it, the way he trained. His work ethic was second to none. I think Michael and him set a great example for the way they went about it and played the game.”When asked to sum up Haddin’s legacy, Lehmann offered the following: “The baggy green, the way he wore it with pride. The way he helped younger players. The way he helped drive the team as a whole. The way he helped coaches. The way he helped mould the team. The way we play today is an exceptional legacy for him. The way he thought about his family and helped his family through difficult times, and the way he helps other people’s family and friends.”

A standout debut first-class season. Big bucks at the IPL auction. Rising star of the IPL. It was turning out to be a fairytale ride for Shreyas Iyer. But then came the India A outings at home against Australia A, South Africa A and Bangladesh A, which put the brakes on Iyer’s ride and gave him a reality check.Not once in his six innings in the four unofficial Tests did Iyer pass 50, getting out twice on 49. But once he did eventually bring up a half-century, against Punjab on the first day, Iyer was at ease. “It was really important for me to cross 50, which happened yesterday only, and I was quite relaxed after that,” he said.Once his primary objective had been achieved, it was all about enjoying himself. Iyer tonked the Punjab bowlers at will to convert his first fifty of the season into his maiden double-hundred in first-class cricket. “I wanted to stay not out throughout, play session by session and not think about big score straightaway. Glad that I could actually execute that.”It wasn’t as if Iyer had lost touch during the India A series. Only once in those six innings did he get out early in his innings. In the remaining five knocks, he got starts but failed to capitalise. “What was going wrong was actually I was playing too much shots, erratic shots. Now am playing on the merits, respecting good balls.”During the last month ahead of Mumbai’s Ranji season, Iyer worked with his coach Pravin Amre on building an innings. In fact, for a player of Iyer’s abilities – someone who can find gaps at will – concentrating for longer periods of time was the key to converting starts into big knocks. For that, he started visualising more often.”Visualisation is the only thing I added [to my game],” he said. “I imagined that I am going to the ground, I am taking strike, which all bowlers I might be facing. I knew that these are the four bowlers they might be playing, so I visualised accordingly. I didn’t visualise that Yuvraj [Singh] would be bowling, that’s why I got out to him.”He might have been dismissed by Yuvraj, but a ruffle of the hair from the Punjab captain was a nod to a young career that has risen steadily over the last year.

When Wally Edwards first joined the Australian Cricket Board 19 years ago, its 14 directors squabbled frequently as representatives of their states, and were Balkanised even in their seating positions around the board table.

Challenge is to drive more people to the game, says Peever

David Peever, the new Cricket Australia chairman, felt it was important to drive forward the slew of recent changes in order to take the game to more people within the country.
“This is a key time for Australian cricket. A lot of significant change has occurred for the better on and off the field,” he said. “But in an ever changing world, I believe we have to work harder than ever before to maintain cricket’s privileged place as the Australia’s traditional summer pastime.
“For me, top of that list is encouraging more people to play the game. That means engaging young people, females and Australians of all of our nation’s diverse cultural backgrounds. I am keen that South Asian and other overseas-born fans who packed Australia’s grounds during the recent World Cup are able to maintain their passion for cricket as part of their adopted Australian lifestyles.”

“It was completely compartmentalised,” Edwards said. “I can almost remember where everyone sat. And it was state versus state basically, and a matter of how much you can take off the table. My job as a West Australian delegate was to get as much cash as I could back to WA.”It definitely wasn’t good for cricket when you look back on it. It was completely dysfunctional – it was hardly a board in that regard. You didn’t sit there and say ‘what’s best, let’s debate it and work out the best way forward’, it was more ‘we think they can operate on a $1 million less than that so we’ll all take a bit of money back’.”We kept the squeeze on management, and if they came up with a good idea that cost money that would definitely be voted out!”On Thursday at Cricket Australia’s AGM, Edwards signed off as chairman and left behind him a board of nine independent directors, chosen on basis of skills and compatibility to further the interests of Australian cricket in a unified manner. Edwards joined Sir Donald Bradman as the only chairmen to have played Test cricket, but no single figure in the history of the board has presided over more significant changes to the way the game is run.The chief executive, James Sutherland, knows this better than anyone. He reflected on the hoops management once had to go through. “Under the previous governance model it was frustrating and difficult,” he said.”The way I like to talk about it is when you had a proposal to put up it was always compromised by your thinking about how the voting would go, and who would like that and who would like this.”Instead of putting the optimal recommendation, you would put a compromise recommendation that kept everyone happy. Even when it came to debate it would get further compromise. But it was a progression over time.”In his farewell remarks, Edwards reserved a special tribute to the former Cricket Victoria chairman, Geoff Tamblyn, as a key figure in helping to usher through those reforms.He also observed that his predecessor Jack Clarke had been the man to commission the governance review that resulted in change. Asked to pay tribute to Edwards, fellow board director Tony Harrison said his chairmanship meant that in Australian cricket “parochialism is not quite dead, but it’s terminally ill”.Relations between board directors have improved notably, but so too has the link between the board and management. The independent director, Kevin Roberts, has stepped down to join CA’s management team, an unprecedented move that places him in line to succeed Sutherland whenever the CEO chooses to finish up.CA’s balance sheet was shown to be in rare good health, not least as a result of a season that featured a Test tour by India and also the wildly successful 2015 World Cup, which Edwards had no little pride in declaring “the best ever” and featured 20 sellouts among its 49 matches.Revenue for the year totalled Aus $380.9 million, resulting in a surplus of Aus $99 million for CA after its annual distribution to the six states. Of this, $60 million will be set aside for long-term, strategic investment. As the board’s CFO Kate Banozic put it, “there is a lot of money in the bank right now”.Of course the cycle of global tours means there needs to be – this summer’s tourists New Zealand and West Indies will not turn in anything like the same cash as visits by India – and Edwards is hopeful that his legacy will feature better cricket played by more nations around the world to ensure the financial reliance on Indian tours is lessened. He remains defiant about ICC reforms that have been heavily criticised by the documentary ‘Death of a Gentleman.’But as of Thursday night, such concerns are no longer those of Edwards, who noted the significance of the man replacing him. David Peever, the former managing director for Rio Tinto in Australia, will be the first CA chairman not to have risen through the ranks of state and national boards.Due in large part to the CA board reforms of the past five years, Edwards was able to say of Peever that “success is assured, it’s just a matter of how much”.

Neil McKenzie will join South Africa’s support staff as a batting consultant following his retirement from cricket nine days ago. McKenzie is currently playing in the Masters Champions League (MCL) and will discuss the details of his contract on his return from the UAE.”Yes I have accepted the position but will catch up with details when I get back,” McKenzie told ESPNcricinfo. It is understood his first assignment will be with the Twenty20 squad in preparation for the World T20 in India next month.Although Cricket South Africa is yet to confirm McKenzie’s appointment, at least one senior batsman is pleased the former international is involved. “I’d be happy with that, Neil was one of the’ names in the hat from what I hear. I played a lot with Neil, and I have very good memories of that,” Hashim Amla said ahead of the third ODI against England in Centurion. “He was an excellent batter, great cricketing brain. If he’s the guy who’s joining us, that would be fantastic. I’m sure he would be [pleased] as well, to be part of the South African team again.”McKenzie will become the fifth batting consultant in Russell Domingo’s tenure, which began in mid-2013 when the latter succeeded Gary Kirsten. At that time, Kirsten was signed on a 50-days-a-year deal with CSA, which ended in 2015. For the World Cup, South Africa employed the services of former Australia batsman Michael Hussey, who was also with them during the T20s in India late last year. Hussey could not stay on for the Tests, which is when South Africa’s batting problems began. They did not manage a single century in the four Tests and put on a top score of 214, which they matched when they returned home for the Boxing Day Test against England.In preparation for that match in Durban, Lance Klusener was roped in to work specifically with the lower order, even though the batting woes began at the top. Klusener, who is head coach at the South African franchise, Dolphins, was only involved for a couple of days and if he had any impact, it was negligible. Following the Durban defeat, and in the aftermath of harsh criticism, South Africa brought in former captain Graeme Smith, whom Amla believed would assist them throughout the rest of the series. Smith was also commentating for Test Match Special and SuperSport, and the conflict meant he only spent one net session with the team.South Africa did not have any other batting coach through the England series but after the final match, which they won, Domingo divulged that they had been trying to sign someone for months. “We’ve been looking for somebody and we’ve got somebody in mind. We are waiting for him to commit to us. We’ve had a few people who said they were interested but they wouldn’t commit to it simply because traveling is not that fun when you are away from your family for a long time, and when there is a lot of pressure and a lot of criticism you are faced with when things don’t go well,” he said.Whether that person was McKenzie is not known. McKenzie had been playing for Lions in their List A competition, after retiring from first-class cricket at the end of last season and then retired from all domestic cricket last week when he traveled to the MCL. He played 58 Tests, 64 ODIs and 2 T20Is for South Africa. His overall career spanned two decades with 280 first-class games, 298 List A matches and 155 T20s.

The one day series between the New Zealand and England is taking theappearance of one of those tales that old cricketers tell: the same story alittle more exaggerated each time. It goes like this. England bat first,fail to make enough of a score, New Zealand knock them off.Given that this pattern was already apparent England’s decision to bat onwinning the toss was a surprise. Their team was unchanged from the defeat atAuckland on Thursday. New Zealand replaced Katrina Keenan with Helen Watson.The first overs of the England innings set the pattern for what followed.The bowling was tight, the batting cautious. Only ten runs came from thefirst nine overs for the loss of Connor, lbw to one that nipped back off theseam from Rachel Pullar. Since being handed the poisoned chalice of theEngland captaincy in mid tour Connor has scored only 24 runs in fourinternationals.The other opener, Claire Taylor, had scored only four by the thirteenth overwhen frustration overcame her. Attempting a cross bat swipe off Ramel, shespooned a catch to Campbell at mid on.Charlotte Edwards timed the ball well until her leg stump was removed by aTiffen delivery that came in from the off when she was on 11. She was notthe last England player to be playing back when the slowness and movement ofthe pitch suggested that she would be better off on the front foot.Nicky Shaw cover drove the first boundary of the innings in the sixteenthover, following it with another straight away, before becoming as becalmedas the rest of the top order. Shaw fell in an unfortunate manner, treadingon her stumps in the process of pulling Emily Drumm.That Drumm (two previous overs in the series) chose to put herself on asearly as the twenty first over showed that with the series already won shewas going to take the chance to experiment. Her leg breaks were sometimeseccentric of line but claimed a second victim when Debbie Hockley took afine catch, turning and diving full length at silly point off the bat andpad of Laura Newton.Kathryn Leng was the only English batsman to try to take the game to the NewZealand bowlers, but those who were more cautious might say that it got herout, as Pullar caught a hard hit drive off her own bowling.Jane Cassar had come in at the fall of the third wicket. With Reynard andHolden out quickly and the score on 78-8 it was up to her to use up theovers and to take England to the outer edges of respectability. She did thiswell, producing the best batting of the innings, placing the ball well tokeep the score moving. Clare Taylor provided excellent support, the pairputting on 38 for the ninth wicket, the best partnership of the innings.Rachel Pullar was the pick of the bowlers, her brisk, testing seam bowlingearning figures of 10-2-15-3. Seven bowlers were used, though any five wouldhave got the job done. Catherine Campbell delivered a miserly eight overs ofoff spin for 12 runs, though none of the English batsmen thought of goingdown the pitch to her.The New Zealand fielding matched the bowling effort, a particularly goodexample being set by Hockley and Campbell, the two (how shall we put it?)most experienced members of the side.Though there was movement off the pitch for both spinners and seamers,especially from the town end, the England total was well below par for thefourth time in a row.The New Zealand batting set about its task with all the aggression andconfidence that England’s had lacked. As with the Australian men chasing asimilarly small total in Auckland yesterday, the approach was at times a bittoo cavalier, and wickets fell.Though England’s bowling was not as consistently accurate as New Zealand’sthere was enough evidence to suggest that if they ever get to bowl first orhave a decent total to play with they will pose a few problems. LucyPearson, the left arm opening bowler, got the ball swinging into the righthander and claimed two victims. Payne was lbw shuffling across while Drummfollowed a ball down legside to be caught behind.Dawn Holden, a slow left armer on her first tour, also impressed, bowlingwith a nice loop and considerable accuracy. She got Pulford stumped, luredinto the charge.With Rebecca Rolls (who had been promoted to open) also gone the Kiwis were53-4 and by no means home and hosed. This brought together Kathryn Ramel andHaidee Tiffen who had each taken two wickets with accurate medium pacebowling earlier. They now put on 63 for the fifth wicket with good shotselection, placement and running. Tiffen looks a fine young cricketer. Witha few more performances like this she can change her first name to Hadlee.Ramel was out just before the end, bowled by Shaw, who had earlier bowled aneleven ball over.New Zealand won by five wickets with sixteen and a half overs to spare.Seeing them for the first time this season, the impression is of acompetent, self-disciplined, well led team who will challenge Australiastrongly for the World Cup on home ground in Christchurch later this year.If England’s sponsors happen to read this, they should rest assured that theEngland team is determined, hard working and with an outwardly good spirit.It is also clear that they are chronically short of confidence, especiallywith bat in hand. Two key players, Collyer and Redfern, should return tostrengthen the side for the World Cup. Hard work is needed in theforthcoming series against South Africa.With New Zealand leading four-nil the final game in the series takes placeunder the lights in Napier on Tuesday.

A most accomplished batting performance by Middlesex, led by a splendidinnings from their captain Justin Langer, set a target which appeared far toodaunting for Nottinghamshire in this third round NatWest Trophy clash whichgave Middlesex an effortless victory by 128 runs.Langer, who has hit two centuries and had a score of 96 in the countychampionship this season, scored his first hundred in limited-overs matchesand was supported superbly along the way by the elegant Owais Shah and AndrewStrauss who chose to hit his highest score in One-Day cricket on his debutNatWest match.The three batsmen dominated the game during their time at the crease and madethe Nottinghamshire bowling look quite innocuous.At no stage during their brief reply, which lasted as few as 37 overs, didNottinghamshire’ s batsmen appear to be in control of the task that lay aheador, indeed, even look comfortable against an attack that gave very littleaway.Veteran pace bowler, Angus Fraser, who struck the early blows for Middlesex,finished his first spell of seven overs with 2 for 19 and was not required tocontinue with his good work later as Aaron Laraman with his medium pace hadaccounted for four wickets for 39.Nottinghamshire’s innings, which totalled only 146, never appeared to stage arecovery after losing 4 for 48 and whatever little hope they might have heldof putting up a reasonable reply, disappeared after the 31 run stand betweenChris Read and Usman Afzaal who were both run out in succession, Afzaal topscoring with 31. Read had gone first with 13 and having dropped two catchesearlier, in Middlesex’s innings, did not have a good match. It will not havebeen a good week for him, having also been excluded from the England One-Daysquad in the forthcoming International series.Earlier, Langer seemed to have done everything right to give his side a greatstart. Having called correctly at the toss, he decided to make first use of afine batting pitch and then featured in two excellent partnerships.Having lost Mark Ramprakash in only the third over, Langer and Strauss begana stand which dominated the Nottinghamshire bowling from the start. Langergot off the mark with a boundary to fine leg and Strauss pulled Paul Franksfor four, having also opened his account earlier with a boundary, off AndrewHarris.Despite the overcast conditions which prevailed for most of the morningsession, Nottinghamshire’s pace bowlers were unable to get any significantball movement that would cause much concern to either batsman. Harris hadconceded 25 runs in his first four overs and Chris Tolley who replaced himwas unfortunate to have Langer, on 15, dropped by Read behind the stumps offhis first ball.That was the only chance that the left-handed Australian was to give in hisentire innings during which he faced 126 balls. Runs came quickly, theyreached 53 from as many balls. The first ten overs had gone for 57 and atthat point the second bowling change took place. Paul Reiffel, who arrived inthe country two days ago from Australia as a replacement for the county’sinjured fast bowler, Shoaib Akhtar, was brought on for his first bowl forNottinghamshire.During his spell of ten overs for 52, without a wicket, there were signs thathe will take, not surprisingly, a little time to acclimatize and settle. Hisfirst spell of five overs had conceded 21, the same as Paul Franks whom, hehad replaced.Meanwhile runs were coming freely to Middlesex. Strauss reached 40 with apull off Reiffel after Langer had driven him to the extra-cover boundary. Thehundred was up from 126 balls and Strauss reached his first fifty inlimited-overs cricket for his county, from 73 balls.Langer reached his fifty in style, lifting Harris for six over mid-on andflicking the next delivery to the fine-leg boundary. The scoring rate rapidlyincreased with both batsmen going neck and neck, on 56, when Strauss fell toa catch at backward point off left-arm spinner Richard Stemp.The next partnership between Langer and Shah proved even more damaging toNottinghamshire with Shah forming an excellent understanding with Langer forrunning between the wickets. The two hundred of the innings came in the 39th.over, it’s the first time this season that Middlesex has reached this figurein One-Day matches.It took only 101 balls for the hundred of the partnership to come up andLanger’s century had taken 128 balls. He had hit six boundaries and a six offHarris who had later been hit for two more sixes by Keith Dutch.Finally, with the total on 235, Langer was run out, going for a second run,to the non-strikers end. One run later Shah, was stumped, just one short ofhis fifty which came from only 53 balls and was another entertaining knock inthe Middlesex innings of 274.